late at night you light up the air with your laughter lullabies
by smileyfacebabe
Summary: ItaSaku - Modern AU: Itachi wakes up in the middle of night and her pillow is empty. He blinks dumbly at the darkness until he hears her quiet, half-smothered laughter.


AN: This is literally like the weakest ItaSaku I've ever written and it's possibly terrible. But I wrote something for the first time in days. Also I'm sick.

Dedication: To Sonya, for making this pairing itch at the front of my mind while I'm trying to sleep.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto Sakura would've gotten Itachi and toted him around like a prize all day. And he would have adored every minute of it. No lies.

* * *

Her laughter wakes him up. He doesn't realize what is happening at first, drowsy from sleep, but then she giggles and he blinks. It's dark in their bedroom, the air conditioner turned up because she can't sleep without a cold breeze in the air. He doesn't see her at first, stares blankly at her vacant pillow as if it will come to life and inform him of her exact location. But then she giggles and his eyes are drawn to her, as they always are. She's hunched over her laptop, features thrown into sharp relief by the screen's glow. Her hair is tied up at the top of her head, a mess of tangled strands discolored by the darkness. She has their spare blanket wrapped around her shoulders, her knees peeking out at him where she's crossed her legs to use as a table. He can't see what is on her screen, but he calls to her quietly, still half asleep.

"Sakura," he slurs, rubbing at his eyes with one hand. She doesn't respond. He frowns as she erupts into a trembling mass of smothered mirth once more. When she tilts her head he can just make out the earbuds trailing from her laptop to her ears. He groans and burrows his face into his pillow more firmly.

"Sakura, why," he groans even though she cannot hear him. Her laughter is growing now, becoming a little bit louder by the second despite her attempts at keeping quiet. He wants to be annoyed; he's been woken up in the middle of the night from a wonderful, dreamless sleep, after all, a feat that doesn't happen often. But with every second that her face crinkles with delight his heart feels lighter, his lips pulling into a wide smile as he edges more toward the waking world. He reaches out, curls his fingers across her knee.

If she had asked he would have lied and told her that he didn't find the sight of her jumping at his touch, a small shriek squeaking out of her throat utterly adorable. She doesn't ask, so he doesn't need to lie.

"Shit," she hisses. The earbuds are torn from her ears and she whirls, laptop sliding off her lap. It tries to take a nasty plunge off the bed and she scrambles to catch it, another squeaking shriek echoing in their quiet bedroom. Once her laptop is no longer in danger of plummeting to the ground she glances over at him, her face hidden by the shadows as she turns. He can't see her well, but he can imagine the sheepish way her gorgeous green eyes would gleam.

"Oh god, did I wake you? Christ, 'Tachi, I'm sorry. I couldn't sleep, so I was messing around online, bouncing around on YouTube. There was a video, people filmed their dog trying to get around their cats, but they were too scared and-"

Itachi listens to her ramble, eyes stuck to her face. She goes through a collection of expressions as she talks, as she always does, and he finds himself in the same place he always does when the rest of the world falls away and leaves him alone with Sakura, defenseless to the way she lights up with life. He's dozing back off before she finishes the explanation of the video and why she found it so funny, his fingers still curled around her knee. He vaguely feels her fingers press against his hand as she rearranges them, her fingers interlocking with his and giving him a soft squeeze. He returns it, blinking dumbly up at her face as the world of sleep creeps back up on him again.

"Oh 'Tachi," she sighs quietly. She presses a kiss to his temple and he blinks open his eyes. He hadn't realized they were closed until then. "Go back to sleep," she tells him. "I won't wake you up again, promise."

"Show me the video in the morning," he tells her. He doesn't know why he does; possibly because he's curious to what was so amusing, but more likely because it would make her smile. She smiles at him and it's the last sight he sees, her messy hair, her hunched shoulders, his shirt, their blanket, her dazzling green-green-green eyes. He falls asleep between one breath and the next, her name on his lips.


End file.
